United States Withdraws from UN Human Rights Council

Washington, D.C. — Today, U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations (U.N.) Nikki Haley and President Trump announced the withdrawal of the United States from the U.N. Human Rights Council (UNHRC).

Penny Nance, CEO and President of Concerned Women for America, issued the following response:

“The United Nations’ dedication to defending human rights has strayed so far from its conception post-World War II when President Harry Truman appointed Eleanor Roosevelt to the first American delegation to the U.N. where she oversaw the drafting and adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

“Today the UNHRC itself is a remake of its predecessor, the U.N. Commission on Human Rights, which had to be replaced because it valued partisan politics above human beings. History is nothing if not repetitive, and today the UNHRC is facing the same fate as the U.N. Commission on Human Rights. The United States is willing to call it what it is.

“Last year, Ambassador Haley addressed the Council in Geneva, warning that the United States would be leaving the Human Rights Council if they continued to show their unfounded hostility towards Israel. The U.N. Human Rights Council has passed more than 70 resolutions against the state of Israel since its creation, while Iran, which is listed as a Tier 3 nation on the U.S. Trafficking in Persons Report, has withstood only seven.

“The United States has asked the Council to face its hypocrisy. We have asked that they expel nations who are blatant human rights abusers, such as Venezuela, China, and Saudi Arabia. Ambassador Haley put forth minimum requirements for the United States’ involvement, and all of them have been ignored. It is not our obligation to align ourselves with an international body that claims to stand for human rights but cherry picks which humans deserve those rights.”

For an interview with Penny Nance, contact Annabelle Rutledge at arutledge@cwfa.org or 916-792-3973.